In the process of manufacturing a glass container, the exterior surface of the glass container is typically coated with a metal-oxide coating, for example, to improve its structural integrity.
The coating process is traditionally performed in a coating hood. Coating hoods are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2015/0101537; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,389,234, 5,081,953, 5,140,940, 5,454,873, 5,599,369, 5,584,903; and PCT Patent App. Pub. No. WO1996020142, for example, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In an assembly line style operation, coating vapor is sprayed onto the exterior surface of a glass container as the glass container passes either below or under a center section of the coating hood. The coating is typically prevented from being applied to the closure region of the container, known in the art as the “finish,” by an air stream that is delivered through the center section of the coating hood and onto the closure of the container. The air stream creates a buffer zone that substantially prevents the coating material from settling on the finish.
To accommodate different glass containers having their own unique size and shape (e.g., tall neck beer bottle, baby food jar, wide-mouth jar, etc.), it is often necessary to disassemble the coating hood and replace the entire center section of the coating hood with a different center section that will accommodate glass containers having a different shape and/or size. Taking the coating hood off-line for disassembly and replacement of the center section results in costly downtime.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need in the glass coating industry to provide an interchangeable and hot-swappable center section for a coating hood.